UK Charts: Need for Speed Underground 2 makes it straight eight

Need For Speed Underground 2 maintained a vice-like grip on the UK's number one spot in this week's sales chart, as Electronic Arts' street racing title shook off all comers for an eighth straight week.

Grand Theft Auto San Andreas reclaimed the number one slot in the PS2 chart, but it evidently wasn't enough to challenge the EA-published title's cross-platform appeal, which now also sits at number two in the PS2 and Xbox charts, number eight in the Cube chart and number ten in the PC chart.

Incredibly, Vivendi's aging Simpsons Hit & Run moved up to number three, suggesting that another Simpsons title this year would be a license to print money for VU. Even 2001's Simpsons Road Rage is sitting pretty at No.30 if you need further proof of the public thirst for Homer and co.

In the rest of the Top 10, there was little movement of note, with the usual set of pre-Christmas hits shuffling places - FIFA 2005 (No.4), Prince of Persia Warrior Within (No.7) and Lord of the Rings: The Third Age (No.10) all on their way down, while Pro Evolution Soccer 4 (No.6) and Football Manager (No.8) are both on the rise.

Outside of the all-important Top 10, again, movement in the charts was remarkable only by its absence, although the new year sales have kicked Half-Life 2 back up seven places to No.14, Halo 2 rocket jumps 23 places to No.15, Killzone moves up six to No.21, while the roundly dismissed Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude makes a long delayed entry into the listings at No.36, no doubt boosted by the January sales activity.

None of this year's new releases have thus far made it into the main chart, and that includes the likes of Nintendo's The Legend Of Zelda: Four Swords (which nevertheless sits at the very top of the GameCube chart), the second wave of NES Classics titles, Take Two's Robotech Invasion on PS2 and Xbox, and Ubisoft's CSI title on Xbox.

Next week is likely to be much the same story, with rapidly declining week-on-week sales and little of note on the new release front - a far cry from the situation in the United States, where games including LucasArts' Mercenaries and Capcom's stunning Resident Evil 4 are currently driving strong sales.